LRAPTC Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Art Exhibition (1)

A friend from Shěn Jué’s study abroad days was preparing to return to the country and hold an art exhibition, bombarding Shěn Jué with messages late into the night.

So, the next day, Shěn Jué woke up to a barrage of messages from his friend. With difficulty, Shěn Jué extracted the useful information: the great painter would arrive at the airport at nine o’clock tomorrow morning and hoped Shěn Jué would pick him up.

Shěn Jué replied to the multi-tasking great painter between bites of breakfast, meticulously reading each message, filtering out the useless ones, and then answering selectively. His friend was used to Shěn Jué’s concise replies and simply added:

[Remember to pick me up.]

Got it, young master. Shěn Jué replied.

After replying to the message, Shěn Jué looked up and found Jì Yuǎn’ān watching him.

“What’s wrong?” Shěn Jué subconsciously touched his hair, making sure it wasn’t messy. Jì Yuǎn’ān shook his head. After breakfast, Jì Yuǎn’ān received an urgent call and was called away.

The weather was nice, so Shěn Jué went out for a walk around the nearby square. The sun lazily shone on Shěn Jué’s body. Some children were throwing darts, and Shěn Jué sat on a wooden chair to watch.

One of the little boys failed several times and dejectedly threw himself into his mother’s arms, his hands pressed tightly against her back. The woman gently patted his back to comfort him, and the little boy ran back to try again. Shěn Jué felt a pang of envy.

On the way back, Shěn Jué detoured to a famous pastry shop and bought a box of macarons as a gift for tomorrow morning’s meeting. After paying, he walked towards the door carrying the transparent paper bag and bumped into Zeng Qi, who was about to enter from outside.

“Oh my gosh, boss, what a coincidence! I didn’t expect to see you again today.” Zeng Qi looked pleasantly surprised when she saw Shěn Jué and greeted him first.

“Indeed, it’s a coincidence.”

Zeng Qi glanced at the paper bag in his hand and gave a meaningful smile, tentatively whispering, “I’ve always heard that this shop’s macarons are delicious. So, boss, are you planning to give them to someone important?”

Seeing Zeng Qi’s expression, Shěn Jué could guess that she must have misunderstood something. He didn’t intend to explain, so he just nodded.

After saying goodbye, Shěn Jué slowly walked back. Jì Yuǎn’ān had already finished his business and was now sitting on the sofa in the living room. Shěn Jué went to the kitchen and put the macarons he bought into the refrigerator to chill.

The next day, Shěn Jué took the thawed pastries to the airport. After hearing that Shěn Jué was going to pick up a friend, Jì Yuǎn’ān offered to be the driver. With no reason to refuse, Shěn Jué agreed.

They waited at the arrival exit. Just after nine o’clock, Shěn Jué’s friend, the somewhat eccentric great painter, appeared in their sight. His hair was longer, and he was wearing a khaki trench coat, looking travel-worn as he walked towards Shěn Jué. The next second, Shěn Jué was enveloped in a familiar embrace. A sky-blue suitcase stood forlornly to the side, silently protesting.

“The friend you came with doesn’t seem too welcoming,” his friend whispered in Shěn Jué’s ear.

It’s strange that you embrace people as soon as you meet them, Shěn Jué thought to himself. He had tried many times to get his friend to change this strange habit—it was too enthusiastic—but his friend always replied, “But I think it’s nice.” Unable to persuade him, Shěn Jué eventually gave up.

Shěn Jué struggled to break free from his friend’s embrace. He waved the transparent paper bag in his hand and said, “I bought your favorite.”

His friend’s eyes lit up, and he happily took the bag, looking like he wanted to give Shěn Jué a big hug, which Shěn Jué firmly stopped. Shěn Jué looked at Jì Yuǎn’ān and introduced him to Yu Zhuo: “A friend of mine, Yu Zhuo.”

“Hello,” Yu Zhuo smiled, extending his hand in a friendly manner.

Jì Yuǎn’ān simply said his name briefly. Yu Zhuo didn’t mind and whispered to Shěn Jué, “Your friend is so aloof. Or does he not like me?”

Shěn Jué also thought Jì Yuǎn’ān’s behavior was a little strange, but he couldn’t find a reason, so he concluded that the two probably didn’t get along. However, in the end, Jì Yuǎn’ān still dutifully drove Yu Zhuo to his destination.

Yu Zhuo took out two art exhibition invitation cards and handed them to Shěn Jué. The invitation cards were shaped like rectangular ticket stubs and were personally designed and drawn by the great painter himself. Several of Yu Zhuo’s usual bright colors were mixed together, like a spilled palette. The exhibition time was indicated in the lower right corner: opening next Saturday, lasting for three weeks.

“You must remember to come,” Yu Zhuo emphasized again before leaving.

Shěn Jué was helpless and solemnly agreed. The two got back into the car, and drove away from Yu Zhuo’s location. Yu Zhuo’s waving figure grew smaller and smaller in the rearview mirror, gradually shrinking into a dark brown dot. At this time, Shěn Jué suddenly received a message from his friend: Thank you for the macarons, I really like them.

Shěn Jué didn’t reply. That afternoon, the artist Yu posted a group photo of the macarons on social media, drawing different expressions on each one.

Jì Yuǎn’ān became more silent than usual. On the way back that morning, Shěn Jué had vaguely sensed Jì Yuǎn’ān’s low mood, but he didn’t know the reason. Perhaps, as a substitute, Shěn Jué was not qualified, so he made Jì Yuǎn’ān unhappy. But Shěn Jué believed that Jì Yuǎn’ān’s standard for choosing a substitute was too low. Maybe besides his appearance, Shěn Jué didn’t meet any of the criteria. Jì Yuǎn’ān was completely suffering the consequences of his own actions.

Jì Yuǎn’ān had disappeared for the entire afternoon. It was almost dinnertime when Shěn Jué received a message from Jì Yuǎn’ān, saying that he wouldn’t be back for a while and that Shěn Jué should take care of dinner himself.

Shěn Jué cooked a bowl of noodles and added a fried egg. While eating, he thought about how to invite Jì Yuǎn’ān to the art exhibition with him, to offset Jì Yuǎn’ān’s anger.

After dinner, he typed a long string of words on his phone, but he wasn’t satisfied, so he deleted everything. He revised it several times like this, and the chat box eventually returned to a blank state. At this time, his friend suddenly sent him a message, directly throwing a location: a bar, followed by:

[Come quickly.]

Shěn Jué opened it. It wasn’t very far away, so he hurriedly tore off a sticky note, carefully wrote a message on it, and stuck it on the door of Jì Yuǎn’ān’s bedroom. Then, he rushed to the bar.

The moment he pushed open the door, Shěn Jué began to look for his friend’s figure. He walked towards the less crowded areas. Zhao Youming was sitting in a corner, with a glass of wine on the table, already half-drunk.

Shěn Jué carefully avoided the people around him and walked straight to his friend, sitting down next to him. Zhao Youming heard the movement, glanced at Shěn Jué, and sighed, “You came pretty fast.”

“What’s the matter, Mr. Multi-tasking Great Photographer, calling me out so late at night?”

“Look to your right, front.” Zhao Youming leaned closer to him, deliberately lowering his voice, sounding mysterious. “Do you see anyone familiar?”

The bar was dimly lit, and people of all kinds were mixed together. Shěn Jué glanced around casually, not seeing any suspicious characters, and turned back, saying, “There are too many people, I can’t see clearly.”

“Really don’t see it?” Zhao Youming muttered, “No way, I shouldn’t be mistaken…”

He continued to encourage Shěn Jué, “Look more carefully, the one blocked by that curly-haired woman.” So Shěn Jué looked over there again. This time, he finally saw it, the familiar person Zhao Youming was talking about.

It was Jì Yuǎn’ān. He was slightly turned to the side, chatting with a man next to him. The man’s back was to Shěn Jué, and Shěn Jué couldn’t see who it was.

Seeing that Shěn Jué hadn’t turned back for a long time, Zhao Youming understood and said, “I knew I wasn’t mistaken. But I have to say, his face is too memorable.”

Shěn Jué agreed very much. Jì Yuǎn’ān did have a face that was hard to forget. The colorful lights fell on Jì Yuǎn’ān’s face, flowing quietly, as if every scene was suitable to be photographed. Shěn Jué withdrew his gaze and asked, “You didn’t call me over just because of this, did you?”

“Aren’t you going to say hello?” Zhao Youming asked in return.

Shěn Jué shook his head and said, “There’s no need.” It was none of his business if Jì Yuǎn’ān drank and chatted with anyone.

Zhao Youming shrugged, secretly lamenting that Shěn Jué was still as indifferent as before. He drank the rest of his wine in one gulp, skipped the topic, and said, “Actually, I called you here tonight not just because of that. The bartender here is very good, but unfortunately, the staff just told me that the owner is comforting a friend who’s heartbroken and doesn’t know when he’ll be done and have time to serve customers.”

He repeated “too bad” again, looking genuinely regretful. He talked about his adventures with this bar, how he had accidentally stumbled upon it at first.

Shěn Jué silently ordered himself a Mojito, taking small sips. After a while, Zhao Youming finished talking and started asking Shěn Jué again, “Are you really not going to go up and say hello? You can be considered friends now, right?”

Shěn Jué looked at the ring and didn’t say anything.

“Who do you think that person next to him is? He wouldn’t be secretly seeing someone behind your back, would he?” Zhao Youming didn’t give up and started speculating wildly.

This time, Shěn Jué turned to look at Zhao Youming, still not saying anything. In fact, Shěn Jué wasn’t worried about such a thing happening at all. He knew very well that Jì Yuǎn’ān only liked his appearance, which was very similar to his beloved. After a while, Zhao Youming couldn’t stand being stared at him and quickly begged for mercy, “Okay, okay. I won’t mention him anymore.” He ordered a Tequila Sunrise, took a big gulp, and then said to Shěn Jué, “You have to drink with me tonight, I finally have some free time.”

Zhao Youming kept his word and didn’t mention Jì Yuǎn’ān again later, not even noticing when he left.

On the other side, Jì Yuǎn’ān said goodbye to his friend and drove home. He went inside and found that Shěn Jué wasn’t there. He went upstairs and first went to Shěn Jué’s room. Shěn Jué had left in a hurry, leaving the door open. The room was empty. Jì Yuǎn’ān returned to his own room. Then, he saw the sticky note left by Shěn Jué on the door, right in the center, which read:

Would you like to go to the art exhibition next Saturday with me? It’s okay if you don’t want to.